Uptown Vocal Jazz Quartet - He Was The Cat (A Tribute to Eddie Jefferson) lyrics

There was a fellow named Jefferson who Would tear it up with the band A vocalizin phenomenon who they used to call the Main Man He would think like a sage, sing like a horn And there on the stage somethin special was born He would swing, dit n doo dat He was The Cat. He sang with Moody in 57 He put a lyric to bop When little Benny came down from Heaven He put it over the top Jazz was hot in the East, cool in the West But his vocalese it was simply the best Because man, couldnt he scat He was The Cat. Eddie was hip but wise as an old man Takin that trip to celebrate Coleman Lettin it rip on Body and Soul man And oh what hed do, the poetry flew A founding father was Jefferson but He never got the acclaim Were here to tell you that hes the one that Put vocalese in the game He would dig sittin in, blowin the hit And then he would spin out a story to fit He was some acrobat He was The Cat. There was a time when there was jazz cookin up on every corner Everybody would sit and listen as they blew Tellin stories they knew in each his own way Tellin the news, bop to blues Set the moods any way theyd want to Innovation was always there Electrifyin the air everywhere youd be, let me tell ya All around youd hear the sound of life abounding free Comin out of a horn, bein born a new way Never knew what youd hear First we heard from The Bean Then the word on the scene was so choice: Eddie Jeffersons voice, what a beautiful noise Master of a lyric and what an inventor Singin with the spirit of jazz at the center Anyone whod hear it knew that he was a mentor Enter for the love the sound You found the rhythm town where you can marry vocabulary To every melody that you hear For when Eddie would sing, the story was king Hed talk about a thing, then be sockin it like the swing of a bat He sang it like that! He would embrace his lyrical zen to Tickle those phrases like he was meant to Take us to places nobodyd been to An Everest climb, the cleverest kind! When Charlie Parker and Moody played it There was a hush in the crowd And then when Eddie would elevate it The jazz community bowed Hed evoke what we heard on the soloin rides And make every word tell a story besides And were all tippin our hat! He Was The Cat.